The connectivity itself generally will be provided by Bluetooth. The story, and presumably the study, says that the salesmanship has begun as the truly innovative phase of smartphone development fades:

While this slowdown in innovation has been widely recognized, marketers for smartphone vendors still trumpet their devices' new features at large-scale events where the latest products are unveiled amid hype that overstates the new capabilities.

It makes sense. The Internet of Things (IoT) provides so many new endpoints that what in essence is an electronic quarterback is needed. The smartphone seems like a good candidate.

Cisco in the Clouds

Cisco makes a lot of its money providing service providers and enterprises with networking equipment. That’s a problem when more potential customers are using cloud approaches that cut down on the amount of gear that companies install. The answer is simple: Get into the cloud game.

The story at NewsFactor does a nice job of describing what this means. The bottom line is that despite all its travails, organizations that need the most bullet-proof mobile security still should consider BlackBerry:

FIPS validation is widely considered a critical benchmark in government security circles. It assures federal workers that encryption technologies have passed demanding testing so it can be used to secure and encrypt sensitive information. Specifically, the certification allows security-minded organizations, including government bodies in the U.S. and Canada, to deploy Secure Work Space to separate personal data from sensitive corporate content.

An analyst quoted in the story confirms that the certification gives BlackBerry a leg up on Android and iOS with governmental prospects.

In fact, it can define Microsoft and its newly appointed CEO’s tenure in the post-PC world. In a new analysis we conducted between the months of January and March 2014 we found that the average US consumer spends 119% more time in productivity apps than they did over the same period a year ago. This includes time spent in apps on iOS and Android devices, both tablets and phones. This growth rate eclipsed all other categories including Messaging, Games and News.

Khalaf did acknowledge that the raw numbers supporting that percentage growth are low. But the bottom line is that things can get hot in a hurry. If the next big thing is productivity apps for mobile devices, Microsoft for the first time in decades may be in the right place at the right time.

The Trend Continues: More Devices, Fewer Traditional PCs

And, finally, comes an item that also is a reminder that because something is expected doesn’t mean that it is not important to report it. The bottom line of a Gartner report released this week follows the common wisdom: Overall worldwide sales of “traditional PC, tablet, ultramobile and mobile phones” will rise 6.9 percent this year.

The total unit sales of 2.5 billion units (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) is a 6.9 percent increase over last year. In 2013, 4.8 percent more units shipped than in 2012. Next year, more than 2.6 billion units are expected to ship.